Gaming culture is full of stories in which heroes receive their due reward, often embodied in the form of a woman alongside property, status, and wealth. These narratives are often translated into a perception of action and reward within communities: just as Mario is expected to be rewarded for his rescue of Princess Peach, so too do male gamers expect to be rewarded for their "white knighting." White knights, or men to the rescue, are a common form of advocate in gamer communities, where gender tensions are currently playing out in the GamerGate conflict. The very concept of white knighting is tied to rewards and spoils and is often used in contradictory ways within social groups. This paper will trace how the belief that men should be rewarded for their "good behaviour" is often a point of internal conflict within masculine gamer groups when issues dealing with women or marginalized groups arise. For many the just rewards should be delivered to the dominant group simply because they are the good guys. But when conflict arises and some men splinter to support women they are seen as acting against the good of the group, or selfishly hogging the anticipated rewards of attention and female flesh for themselves in an inherently hypocritical move. Part of the “Damsels, Bronies, Tennos, and Toons: Gender Matters in Video Games” panel with Anastasia Salter, Edmond Chang, and Timothy Welsh.

1. Bronies on the Iron Throne
Perceptions of Prosocial Behaviors and Success
Bridget M. Blodgett
University of Baltimore
@bblodgett

2. The Bard: Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. What is in this for me?
Caleigh: A straight-to-the-point kind of man. Impressive. What do you get for
freeing me? Well, you’ll get me, riches beyond your wildest dreams, my
kingdom at your feet, and me.
2015 PCAACA Conference4/1/2015

3. The Bard deserved all
of the items that
Caleigh was offering
him, even in the
endings where he does
not end up with the
woman, riches, and
power it is implied that
The Bard chose to
forgo his deserved
rewards.
2015 PCAACA Conference

4. Woman as Reward
• Given the construction of the male geek as:
• a socially-challenged outsider
• rejected by those in power
• found unsuitable as a potential partner,
• The idea of women as a reward can be
particularly compelling in geek spaces
• Belief men should be rewarded for “good
behavior” is often an internal conflict within
masculine geek groups regarding gender
and marginalization issues
4/1/2015 2015 PCAACA Conference

5. Good of the Group
• Rewards should be delivered to the dominant group simply because
they are the good guys
• But when some men support women they are seen as acting against
the good of the group
• They must be selfishly hogging the anticipated rewards of attention
and female flesh for themselves
• This is seen as being both divisive and hypocritical
• Everyone wants what is entitled to them
• Defending minority groups becomes the action that breaks group coherency
2015 PCAACA Conference4/1/2015

6. The Media Knight
• Many iconic franchises in
geek culture draw upon
pseudo-medieval source
material
• Ballads, poems, and
stories of Medieval times
drew idea of proving
oneself worthy of very
valuable property, often
despite humble or lowly
origins
2015 PCAACA Conference4/1/2015

7. Tolkien and Courtly Love
“It takes, or at any rate has in the past
taken, the young man's eye off women as
they are, as companions in shipwreck not
guiding stars. (One result is for
observation of the actual to make the
young man turn cynical.) To forget their
desires, needs and temptations.” (Tolkien,
2014)
2015 PCAACA Conference4/1/2015

8. Arwen and Eowyn are most defined by the character’s relationship to
Aragorn leading to tension between the female characters and their
fathers Elrond, Lord of Rivendell and Theoden, King of Rohan
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9. Lord and Lady Geek
This desire--to be lord, and possess the symbolic lady--shows up in a
range of geek canonic texts.
2015 PCAACA Conference4/1/2015

10. Benevolent Sexism
• Manifests primarily as paternalism and the desire to protect some
presumed quality of women
• Keeps the objectification of women as non-actors, items of value to
be protected
• The rhetoric of Gamergate, and particularly the feeling of ownership
have taken over discussions of Quinn’s body and sexuality, suggests
that a similar sense of entitlement
2015 PCAACA Conference4/1/2015

11. Knights of the Internet
• Smaller heroic deeds are often
substituted by the modern white
knight
• opening the door
• paying for a meal
• giving compliments
• time spent listening to a woman
• This entitlement can result in feelings
of frustration, anger, and aggression
against the group or individual who
seems to be thwarting the knight’s
entitlement
2015 PCAACA Conference4/1/2015

12. Pejorative Knights
• Paint a man who has chosen to defend women
as an outcast from the brotherhood of the geek
• A white knight is not someone who is the
righteous defender of the weak and imperiled
but someone who has gone seeking their own
self-interest
• subject to derision, fearful of demanding their
full rights and respect when it comes time to
defend their identity
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13. Unlike the media targeted at teenage girls, geek media strongly urges the
main characters to remain true to their identity. It is their natural nerdiness
and awkward interests that make them attractive in the end.
2015 PCAACA Conference4/1/2015

14. Knights and Community
• White knights are not seen as outsiders.
• Their motivations are painted as
understandable
• The appellation isn’t so much othering the
person as it is providing a warning about the
wrong path
• White knights are humanized within the
narrative
2015 PCAACA Conference4/1/2015

15. The white knight serves as a rallying cry, not only for more people to
come forward but also for the group to more carefully patrol their own
identity for imposters or heretics that could expose them to weakness
from their opposing group
2015 PCAACA Conference4/1/2015